The last time I saw "Strange Brew" was when it appeared on one of the Canadian Pay TV channels...and I hated it. It was chaotic, confusing, silly, and dumb. I mean, using music and drugged beer to force mental patients to fight while playing hockey? Some skinny woman's father coming back as a ghost and using a videogame to speak to people? A flying dog? I dismissed it.
But now, with the fullness of time and maturity, I've watched it again and I can say with confidence that it's STILL chaotic, confusing, silly, and dumb...but it's also hilarious!
This movie captures the sort of ad hoc, "yeah, whatever" style of SCTV, which could get dull over time, but the hosers have managed to draw it out for 90 minutes by putting in a lot of rich detail (what confused me as a child were the references to Hamlet, mainly), endlessly quotable dialogue, and scenes that are just plain funny (I particularly like the nurses arguing about whose responsibility it is to remove dead patients from their beds). I usually find "dumb" humour annoying, but Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis are so GOOD -- almost subtle -- at being dumb, and so lovable at the same time, that even the fart/booze/puke jokes became funny.
And what's more, the movie is WEIRD. If anybody can explain why Hosehead the dog ROLLS up the edge of the roof, please let me know, because it's giving me nightmares. And am I the only one who's noticed pointed musical references to Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" (when they first see Elsinore Brewery, and when Rosie and Pam are reunited again, the score sounds almost EXACTLY like similar moments in "Young Frankenstein"...but not QUITE exactly...)
I recommend this movie to anybody who can handle some dumb with their wit, in just the right amounts. The DVD features a preview for their upcoming cartoon which looks spectacularly unfunny, so please don't judge them on that.
